Jess and Anna may be identical twins, but they have definitely grown apart since starting high school. When Anna falls out of her window and dies, Jess is left trying to figure out what happened. As she uncovers more and more secrets, Jess realizes that she and Anna may have been even further apart than she realized.

A beautifully written mystery with well thought out twists and turns. I loved the chapters written from deceased Anna's pov!

I really enjoyed this story. It is told from Jess's POV. I thought her character development was well done, you get to see inside her head and start to understand how she thinks and why she is coming to the assumptions and conclusions she does. I would guess her character is mildly autistic.
In the very beginning she finds out her twin sister is dead, but what she has been told must of happened doesn't make sense in her mind so she is determined to make some sense of it and figure out what really happened.
The characters are flawed and believable, even the parents.
I think it's a great debut novel and that teens that read realistic fiction will enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Jess Cutter gets pulled out of her first period gym class by the school counselor, she knows it can’t be good. Her twin sister Anna is dead. Her broken body was found this morning below her bedroom window ... it seems she fell to her death while trying to sneak out last night.

As the details of Anna’s death are revealed, a devastated Jess is just not buying the story put forth by the police department. When Jess begins investigating the accident herself, she learns that her sister was keeping some deep, dark secrets. As she follows the increasing number of clues, Jess becomes more and more involved in the circumstances of Anna’s death, and soon discovers that everything is not as it seems. Can she convince her parents and the police that there is something fishy about her twin’s death, or will she have to figure this one out on her own?

The Window by Amelia Brunskill is a rare suspense novel in the YA genre. Reading like an adolescent Gone Girl, The Window is a fast-paced, investigative novel into the mysteriously strange death of a teenage girl. Brunskill does a nice job of not revealing too much of the plot all at once, keeping readers guessing about what really happened to Anna on that fateful night. Interspersed between chapters are snippets from Anna’s life in the weeks leading up to her death, slowly giving readers a glimpse into her secret life.

The Window will appeal to young adult readers who are looking for something a little different than the typical, cliched adolescent novels. While The Window does feature some tropes, overall it is a refreshing dive into the teenage suspense genre. Adult readers will appreciate the gradual build of tension throughout the novel, but may find the final reveal lacking in shock value.

Jess might look exactly like her twin sister Anna but they couldn't be more different. Anna is outgoing, quick to smile, and always looking to make friends. Jess is an introvert who prefers to be alone with a good book. But that doesn't stop them from being best friends. They love to spend time together and they never keep secrets from each other.

At least that's what Jess thought before Anna died.

Found on the ground outside her bedroom window, everybody assumes Anna was sneaking out after curfew when she slipped and fell. Where was she going? Was she meeting a boy? And why would she keep it all a secret from Jess?

Everyone is sure it was an accident, but Jess can't believe it. She's sure Anna wouldn't lie to her unless there was a good reason and she won't stop until she gets the answers it seems like no one else wants to know. She's going to solve this mystery no matter what. She owes it to her sister

The Window is definitely a sad story about the ways we grieve after a loved one dies, and some parts, especially the Twins' mother's reactions, are hard to read. But it's also a story of young romance and the bonds of family that even death can't break.

For a first novel, this was really, really good. I was rooting for Jess to figure out what really happened to her twin sister. I think the pieces to the puzzle were placed nicely throughout the book. The bits and pieces of Anna’s journal created suspense as you follow Jess figure out who was involved.

This excellent story begins with Jess, thinking in gym class, that she is doomed to be out of fashion for her whole life and eager to tell her twin Anna about her realization. Only the counselor comes to the door, her parents are in the main office, and her sister Anna has been found dead lying on the ground below her bedroom window.

The rest of the story follows Jess as she tries to find out what happened to her sister and what she didn't know about the person she thought she knew best of anyone in the world. Jess is quiet - probably somewhere on the Autism Spectrum - and knows that now she will have to pay attention to things that never caught her attention before if she wants to find out about her sister.

Her investigation leads her to making a friend, almost having a boyfriend, and joining the track team and finding out that she is actually pretty good at running. It also leads her to uncovering secrets in her sister's life and other secrets about people too as she pays attention to the other kids in her class who were Anna's friends.

This was excellently written. It gradually unfolded events as Jess makes discoveries and comes to realizations. Jess's world expands as she gains a better understanding about her sister. Between chapters are a few short paragraphs from Anna's point of view that sound like poetry or excerpts from a diary although no diary was found in her effects. They let us see what Anna was going through in the days before her death.

I highly recommend this engaging story. Jess is a wonderful character.

Could not continue reading....too drab and dark for me.

I've been struggling to figure out how I feel about this book. On one hand, I was drawn in by Jess and her family's grief over the loss of Anna. I found Jess to be a relatable character, but wished she had been more developed. I was also a bit creeped out by the teacher/coach who was depicted as a potential predator (especially by what Jess later says to him). Overall, I enjoyed the mystery of what happened to Anna, but might not jump to recommend this one.

The story was intriguing enough. Twin sister is found dead under her bedroom window leaving her twin no other choice, but to solve the crime herself. I'm a big fan of this subject. I love a good 'who dunnit?' and everything discovered and under covered to get there. Unfortunately this particular story didn't give me anything new that I haven't already read before. Once I knew the story, I could easily pinpoint all the players and having all that in line, the who is pretty easy to guess, IMO. I just wasn't clear on the why. So it was interesting enough in that respect to keep me reading til the very end. Having said that, once the why was revealed, I remember sitting there while still reading thinking 'ok, there has to be more to this.' I was expecting a twist, a swerve, something, but nothing ever came and the story was wrapped up shortly after. I guess in this case I just wanted more. :/

*Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to review an arc.*

What one thinks will be a sad but simple and straight forward investigation of death of Jess's twin sister changes quickly once Jess begins to question the "accidental" death off their porch roof. The story encompasses many layers of high school life drama, while some on their own are hard enough but when layered together makes for a difficult and emotionally charged life that adults struggle with. One in which Jess learns much more about her twin sister and begins to question everything she thought she knew about her. A must read for young adults and high school librarians.

How well do you know your sibling? And if that sibling is your twin, shouldn't you know her even better than non-twin siblings? That's popular wisdom, right? Well, not so fast - apparently Jess doesn't know Anna as well as a twin is supposed to know her twin.

Of course, that's pretty par for any YA book about twins (or even adult books for that matter). And how Anna ultimately ended up falling from her bedroom window? Not all that surprising, or different. Still, despite that predictability, there are some really nice moments and when Jess realizes how others see her (which isn't how she thinks they see her and leads to something of a change) it's a great thing for teens to read. Because, really, isn't that true of all of us? We don't know or see how others perceive us and our actions and affect. If teens can recognize that, and do some self-reflection, that's great. Another good thing was the depiction of grief and how we all deal with it differently, despite the literature saying "here's how to grieve a loss".

Captivating story, great characters! Loved the twists and turns and the atmospheric writing.

I wasn't sure about this book at the beginning because it got off to a slow, but familiar, start. Jess is the quiet one who is left essentially voiceless after the death of her outgoing friend/family member and needs to find her own way in the world. Having read several titles with that framework, I was unimpressed, especially since Jess didn't grab me as a compelling character and I thought the book was primarily going to be about her grieving process. But fairly quickly we began to find out that Anna had her secrets, one that is pretty darn big, and I found myself zipping through the chapters. I was even fooled by the red herring of who is to blame for Anna's death. For a little while, at least. It's not the finest mystery I've ever read, but I was engaged and I know my students will like it if I can booktalk them past the slow beginning.

I was initially disappointed when I first started reading this book. I felt it was a bit slow to start. However once I hit a certain point, I could barely put it down. I was surprised by the plot twists and really enjoyed how the characters interacted and how they developed and changed throughout the story.

After the death of her twin sister Anna, Jess vows to figure out what happened. The premises had my attention regarding the mystery, but the plot was very slow. Jess was hard to connect with. She made assumptions on a single piece of evidence and stuck with that story, blaming the beloved English teacher and cross-country/track coach for seducing her twin. She joins track and frequently stalks this teacher, trying to see if he will slip up and do something implementing that will connect him to Anna. And that was about it.

She spent so much time focused on the teacher that she skimmed over other clues that were flashing right in front of her. Despite being dense, she made rash decisions that left her parents, teachers, and friend concerned about her (which was normal to a degree since she was coping with her twin’s sudden death).

The story was slow; nothing really happened until the reveal at the end which I predicted at the beginning. This was nicely written, but there are ways to revamp it to make it more interesting and suspenseful, especially since I had been looking forward to reading this one.

I received an ARC of The Window through NetGalley.

<b><u>trigger warning: pedophilia. </u></b>
<blockquote><i>”Initially, I’d thought if they’d been together, that made him a creep, a predator. Yet watching him in his house had made it much more difficult for me to think of him that way. I wondered if it was possible there’d been something good between them. In a way, I hoped there had been.”</i></blockquote>
No. No. Are you forking kidding me right now? Honestly, I don’t even want to TALK about the book itself. Crap like this makes me <b>so frikkin angry</b>. This book is an insult to any and all victims of pedophilic relationships. Fork this.

Anna and Jess’s mom is literally T H E O N L Y character that calls out Jess’s acceptance and attempted normalization of pedophilic relationships. And I don’t care that <spoiler>Anna and Mr. Matthew’s weren’t actually in a relationship</spoiler>, it’s still incredibly <b>not okay</b>, to even IMPLY that a relationship between a middle-aged man and a <b>FIFTEEN YEAR-OLD</b> girl would be a good thing.

There’s an entire conversation between Jess and her mom where Jess tries to convince her that a relationship between a high schooler and an adult could work out. Jess’s mom is worried (understandably) and asks if there’s something Jess needs to tell her. Jess says no. And then the exposition spouts crap like the quote above? wtf???

The worst thing is that one of the adult characters of the book doesn’t shoot Jess down when she says a relationship between an adult and a minor could work. <spoiler> And the fact that the adult that does this is the one canon gay character is ALL SORTS of wrong implications. Literally the ONLY canon gay character is a pedophile apologist. Stop demonizing gay men lol its NOT THAT HARD.</spoiler>
<spoiler><blockquote><i>”’There were moments when I almost thought that, if things were different, you wouldn’t have been the worst choice for her.’

His eyes widened. I flushed and wished I’d kept my mouth shut, until I noticed the tiniest trace of a smile forming at the side of his mouth. ‘And by different, you mean if I hadn’t been twice her age and her teacher?’ [sic]

‘I thought you might have made her happy, made her feel special.’

‘Oh,’ he said. For a second, I thought I could see another version of my mom’s lecture on inappropriate relationships coming. Then he nodded. ‘Well, I always thought she seemed like a very special person.’”</i></blockquote></spoiler>
You have got to be <b>forking kidding me</b>.

But besides all that utter crap, the book just… wasn’t that good?? Like, can we talk about how Jess thinks that it’s absolutely CONFIRMED that Anna was in a relationship solely based on the fact that Anna’s on birth control???? Like??? There are so many other reasons that Anna could be on birth control past the fact that she’s getting some. Here’s a list of the one’s I could think of <b>just off the top of my head</b>:
1. To help control her acne
2. Irregular periods
3. She has endometriosis
4. Ovarian cysts, menstrual migraines, or any other period-related pain
5. To help regulate hormones for any variety of mental or physical health reasons
Like, seriously. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s many more reasons why Anna could be on birth control lol. It’s just not plausible.

Also. There was like no suspense. Bleh. I was so bored. And I didn’t really care about the mystery lol??? When we found out who was responsible for Anna’s death it definitely wasn’t someone I suspected, but not in the way that it blows your mind because “how could I not have suspected them???” but it was more “wait,,,, who is that again,,,” I was just so bored.

And for some reason this is the second book I have read in the past few days where the guy who was in love with the dead girl falls for the dead girls sister?? Is this a thing now? Am I just incredibly out of touch with what readers want these days?? Is this really what the teens want????

I would not recommend this book. If you want a good YA mystery go read Prep School Confidential instead. Don’t waste your time.

I read this quickly, wanting to find out, along with Jess, what really happened to her twin sister Anna, who died from a fall out of a window. Jess's reaction to grief was realistic and well-portrayed, the resolution was surprising, and I especially appreciated that romance didn't solve all of Jess's problems. This was a suspenseful and satisfying read.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.